Boardcollector Surf Swap

While in Fiji I got the oppotunity to meet and speak with Rusty Preisendorfer of Rusty surfboards about all things surfboard design.I told him about the the old Canyon I have that he shaped in the 80's, how I thought it might be shaped for Wes Laine but the inscription was for 'Large Dave'. Rusty said he knew the board and that it was shaped for Dave Frankle from La Jolla / Blacks. I was blown away, I couldnt belive of all the thousands of boards he's run a planner over, he could still remember this one. We talked about Canyon and he told me the board he'd most like to see again was the Canyon he shaped for Occy for the OP Pro with the broken nose.So now I have a new mission.

photo of La Jolla by 'Large' Dave Frankle.photo of Rusty by Tom Servais

Uge from Aquabumps posted this shot of my old home break recently and it brought back a flood of memories. I've had so many nice tubes there and all because of a little piece of advice I was given in Bali 20 years ago.I was on my first Indo trip and was surfing Bingin the small but flawless barrel that breaks over the end section of the Impossibles reef. I was pulling in but not making the wave and getting rolled on the reef time and time again. I came in a little scratched and bleeding and one of the old time Bali locals said to me "you must point at the temple" and indicated the gently flapping yellow, black and white flags of the Hindu temple pereched on the cliff top above Belungan. I paddled back out, caught a wave, pulled in and stretched my front arm out stright and high towards the temple on the cliff. My whole body followed and set my rail high and straight like my arm and I easily made the wave.The next time I surfed my home break I pulled in, leading with my front arm and shoulder and pointed high and straight and made the barrel.

I asked Bob Mc Tavish for a little design history on the board. He wrote-

"I shaped heaps of twin fins for Sky from 1976 to 1979. Many had channels, many didn’t. I loved those boards at Lennox through those years. By 79 we were adding a small fin box in the tail, and a small centre fin, so we weren’t far off the Thruster 2 years before Simon. Speed with great glide, yet solid pivot. A good design. - Bob"

After much debate I decided to pack my 1978 Bob Mc Tavish shaped 6'1" single fly swallow tail twin fin for some 'tube testing' at Cloudbreak, Tavarua Fiji.The only change from its last trip being I replaced the FCS plugs with Future Fins. It was my best performing board of the trip and even attracted the eye of Rusty Preisendorfer who wanted to have a close look at its lines.Its narrow swallow tail and large fin bases did not slip an inch on any of the heavier take offs and its sharp rails and relatively gentle rocker held high and tight in the tube.

The interesting thing about this shot is it reveals how far forward the sweet spot is on this shape. Right in line with the wide point.

1982 Stubbies Surf Classic Burleigh

The 82 Stubbies was the pinicle of inovation period surfing and surfboard design. The heats included Mark Richards on his own hand shaped twin fin design, Cheyne Horan (winning) on a Geoff McCoy Laser Zap design with Ben Lexan designed winged Star fin, Rabbit Barthlemow on a channel bottom rounded pin tail Hot Stuff, Dane Kealoa on a T&C twin fin and Simon Anderson on his new 3 fin thruster design. Never before or since has there been such a variety of cutting edge surfboard design in one place.

Innovation Period - Definition

The innovation period of surfboard design has also been described as 'T2'. Meaning the second transition period, the first transition period of surfboard design was from late 60's to the early 70's, or short board revolution, where boards went from long boards (10') to short boards (6'), an exciting time for the likes of Dick Brewer and Bob Mc Tavish, who were sawing a foot off their boards at a time. The second transition period was from the late 70's to the early 80's when surf boards went from 1 fin to 3 fins and beyond.

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About Me

I've been collecting innovation period surf boards since 1990. I was trained as an industrial designer and I love surfboards as pieces of hydrodynamic design. I am an art lover and I appreciate surfboards as hand crafted sculptures and I admire their graphic designs and art works. Mainly I am a dedicated surfer and regularly surf each of the boards in my collection.